Scindia meets bankers to revive power sector

Power minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday met banks and financial institutions and discussed ways to iron out problems that are hindering investments into the cash-strapped sector.

"Bankers raised problems faced while lending to power sector projects ... Fuel availability and environment hurdles are also matters of concern," Scindia said after an hour-long meeting.

The meeting was attended by representatives from PSU banks and lending institutions such as Punjab National Bank, Central Bank, Power Finance Corporation and REC.

"We discussed a gamut of issues, from gas availability to health of the discoms to the aspects of the Financial Restructuring Package (FRP) for the discoms," Scindia said. "FRP will enhance the health and vitality of these discoms and that is what is the ultimate purpose is. The discoms which have done really well will get a huge jump up in ratings."

"We are going to pass a rating system for all the discoms in the country effective April 1, this year, so that we are able to bring in transparency and accountability in generation, transmission and distribution in order to make the sector viable," he said. "CARE and ICRA will work on rating discoms," he said.